Tokyo 2020 torch lit behind closed doors in ancient Olympia

Olympics - Lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame for Tokyo 2020 - Ancient Olympia, Olympia, Greece - March 12, 2020 Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of High Priestess passes the flame to the first torchbearer, Greek shooting athlete Anna Korakaki, during the opening of the Olympic flame torch relay for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics REUTERS/Costas Baltas

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, GREECE (Reuters) - The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch relay got under way on Thursday when the flame was lit by the rays of the sun in ancient Olympia in a scaled-down ceremony overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Actress Xanthi Georgiou, in the role of high priestess, used a parabolic mirror at the site of the ancient Greek Olympics to ignite the torch, before handing it to Greek Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki, the first woman to ever launch an Olympic relay.